


Science Looks Good On You

by Anti_Gravity



Category: Supergirl
Genre: F/F, Lena wears her safety equipment in this one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 14:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16745851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anti_Gravity/pseuds/Anti_Gravity
Summary: [WIP] Lena and Kara are best friends. Everything’s canon except they’re both 100% gay (unbeknownst to each other) and Lena wears her lab coat and safety goggles in the lab the way actual scientists do. Kara offers to help Lena out in the lab as an assistant, and ends up accidentally revealing that she knows more science than she’s previously let on.





	Science Looks Good On You

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So here's the first chapter. I know it's short, but it's just getting started. This will be a multi-chaptered fic. I have yet to take a chemistry class beyond high school--I'm actually taking my first college chem class next semester--so most of this is just technobabble, based on my existing knowledge from high school and the other science classes I've taken so far at my university. And there will be more of it. Because Lena is first and foremost a scientist, so she does science a LOT, even if it's just jotting down notes while she's busy being a CEO. And Kara is also a scientist, with wayyy advanced knowledge she gained on Krypton as a kid and with different approaches than we have here on Earth.  
> If you're an actual, honest-to-god scientist (or in school for STEM like I am), please don't hesitate to point out inconsistencies/errors in your review. And I'm ALWAYS open to suggestions. Our girls are gonna do a LOT more science together, and we're gonna get to see just how smart they really are, which means I'm going to be overextending myself regularly.

Today marked the third day in a row Kara had been helping Lena out in her laboratory. She’d volunteered to play lab assistant the other day after the frazzled Luthor had confessed she was overwhelmed with a top secret project she’d been working on, but couldn’t trust any of her staff enough to help her with it. Figuring it was a long shot, Kara had mentioned she’d taken a few chemistry classes in school (it was actually more than a few, and it had been back on Krypton) and she also had a long weekend off work so she’d be free to lend a hand. Lena had needed surprisingly little convincing, and so here they were in the lab, masks in place and pipettes and graduated cylinders in hand.

  
“Careful, Kara. Those measurements have to be precise,” Lena warned as Kara added two drops of aluminum potassium sulfate to her beaker. Kara’s lips quirked behind her mask, but she nodded and dutifully counted the exact number of drops, recording them on her notepad. She glanced over at Lena, who was loading a few collection tubes into a centrifuge. Her eyes absently scanned over the other woman’s outfit. Lena’s usual heels had been traded for tasteful slip-ons, and her form-fitting dress was mostly covered by the grey lab coat she wore over it. The goggles pressed adorably into the skin around her eyes, leaving a red mark where she’d shifted them after they’d been pressing too long in the same place. She looked good, way too good, and Kara was finding it hard to refocus.

  
“Hey Lena?” Kara asked, setting down her pen and reaching for the small box of iron filings to distract herself and get back on track. “After we finish here, do you wanna come over to my house for a movie?”

  
Lena punched in the settings for the centrifuge and started it up before looking over at Kara, oblivious to the other woman’s scrutiny. She mentally perused her schedule for the next day, deciding she could easily handle a late night before her 8 AM meeting. “I’d need to drop by my house to change, but sure,” she said. “I’d like that. What movie did you have in mind?”

  
Kara shrugged. “I don’t know, I just figured it’s been a long time since you’ve been over so it was a good time to ask. Anything you want to see?”

 

“I’ll think about it and let you know if I come up with anything,” Lena said. “Could you hand me that potassium nitrite?”

  
Kara glanced over at the jumble of bottles on the counter and plucked the correct one, passing it over to Lena and turning back to her own beaker. Her hand froze as she reached for a stirring stick.

  
“Wait,” Kara said, “are you making what I think you’re making?!”

  
Lena jolted and glanced at her, then seemed to remember who she was with and shook her head. “What do you think I’m making, Kara?” Lena asked amusedly.

  
Kara looked down at her page of notes, then over at the digital chalkboard. Lena watched as the other woman scanned the formulas and chemicals listed along the side, Kara’s eyes widening as she saw the last chemical listed. “Na2Li2BSiH3O+F” was a formula she’d only seen in one other place—the DEO.

  
“Are you experimenting with Kryptonite catalysts?” Kara tried to keep the accusation out of her voice.

  
Lena’s jaw dropped. “How could you possibly—no, just the opposite, actually—but Kara, how on earth did you get that far? I thought you said you’d only taken a few classes? And how do you know the formula for Kryptonite?”

  
Kara wasn’t thinking clearly, which was why she continued digging herself into a hole. “Not important,” she waved dismissively, “but that’s not the recipe for an inhibitor, it’s the recipe for a catalyst.”

  
“Obviously I’m reverse-engineering it,” Lena said dryly. “It’s an old formula from my brother’s notebooks. If you’re so secretly intelligent, you should know that’s why I’m using the ferric oxide instead of the vanadium oxide.”

  
“I—” Kara started, then “…oh. Right.” Her cheeks flushed. “I got a little wound up, sorry.”

  
Lena stared at her, and Kara could see her brain at work behind those safety goggles. Her heart seized as Lena’s eyes turned sad.  
“Don’t worry about it,” Lena said, turning away. “Listen, I’m not—” she cleared her throat. “I’m not trying to hurt y—Supergirl. I’m trying to help her.”

  
“I know,” Kara said, hoping her voice held the conviction she felt. “Honestly, Lena, I know that. I was just so shocked to realize that what you were making was poisonous to humans, but you’ve got the human blood samples there, and then the Kryptonite formula on the board—I just got a little mixed up. I know you’re good. You’re so good, Lena, and I’m sorry I made you think I doubted that for even a second.”

  
Lena seemed to relax a little at that. She pulled her mask down below her chin and tilted her head back, stretching the tension out of her neck. Kara couldn’t help but stare, and Lena caught her looking at her mouth when she looked back over at her best friend. She smiled a little. “Thanks, Kara. I’m just a little sensitive, you understand.”

  
Kara nodded, her eyes going up to meet Lena’s eyes. “Of course,” she nodded earnestly.

  
Lena pulled her mask back up, readjusting her gloves and reaching for her tablet and stylus. She scrolled through it a moment, then placed it back on the counter. “I think we can probably call it a day after this next step. Your solution has to sit for 48 hours and mine will store stably after I add the potassium nitrite and suspend it. Do you want to head home and I’ll meet you there in a couple hours?”

  
“Sure,” Kara said. “What do you want for dinner?”

  
“Anything sounds fine. I could order us some spaghetti and cheesecake from Bianchi’s if you want to pick it up.”

  
Kara nodded, capping her beaker and sliding it into the lab stand in a small temperature-controlled storage chamber before shucking off her gloves, mask, and goggles. “Sure, that sounds good. See you at my place at 6?”

  
“I’ll be there,” Lena said. “Can’t wait.” She grinned at the red marks around Kara’s eyes the goggles had left behind, resisting the urge to touch and instead turning back to the centrifuge, which had just signaled its completed cycle. She heard Kara removing her lab coat and glanced over her shoulder as the woman left the lab, then back down at her hands where she carefully removed the blood samples and slid them into the fridge. Alone with her thoughts, she nevertheless stayed focused on her task. She’d have plenty of time to ponder over Kara’s inadvertent revelation on the way home.


End file.
